Lanning: Nintendo will be around for “100 years,” but probably not Zynga or Microsoft

Oddworld Inhabitants founder Lorne Lanning feels Nintendo has a permanent place in video games for the foreseeable future, but is unsure about Microsoft or Zynga.

Speaking with VentureBeat, Lanning said he would work with Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata “in a second,” due to the CEO’s opinion that company lay-offs damage employee morale, and developers fearing layoffs can produce sub-par games.

“When Satoru Iwata came out and said people were asking him, ‘When are you gonna lay off your development staff? ‘ I don’t remember exactly what he said, but it was basically: ‘Laying off development is not going to solve our problems. Building great games is what we do and we’re going to continue doing it.’

“When he said that, in my opinion, he was immortalized in the creative community. I would work with him in a second. When a man in that type of position, in a world where the golden rule is the rule and that’s what’s expected at public companies, he stood up and said: ‘That’s not what we’re about. We’re about building great stuff. We have great people to build great stuff. We’re gonna do that.’

“When I look at the history of Nintendo, I say,’Nintendo is gonna be here in 100 years.’ I have no doubt. I doubt Microsoft will be here in 100 years. I know Zynga won’t be here in 100 years. I’ve been here longer than Zynga.

“We’re not making headlines in the Wall Street Journal, but we’re still building what we set out to build. Now we have to be clever and smaller in how we think, but we’re more self-empowered than we’ve ever been.”

It’s a great interview from Lanning as usual, and you really should give it a read.